Crypto-focused projects have taken over the DeFi Industry. In recent years, cryptocurrencies have become an increasingly popular investment option for individuals and institutions alike. As we move further into 2023, many investors are turning to crypto projects as attractive investment opportunities due to their potential for high returns and innovative technologies.
Despite the growing interest in cryptocurrencies, there remains a lingering issue of trust when it comes to crypto exchanges. Over the past few years, several high-profile hacks, bankruptcies, and scams involving crypto exchanges have led to a loss of confidence in these platforms. With that in mind, investors are searching for trustworthy investment avenues – and projects have begun to fill this investment void.
Projects take over the crypto buzz
The crypto world has been evolving rapidly over the past decade, with new and innovative projects emerging every day. These projects are designed to solve some of the industry’s biggest problems, such as scalability, security, and usability. As the crypto industry continues to grow, it’s becoming increasingly clear that laser-focused projects on specific use cases or niches are taking over the industry.
One of the key factors driving the success of these projects is their ability to solve real-world problems. Unlike many of the early crypto projects, which were created purely as a means of speculation, these newer projects are designed to address real-world needs.
Another key factor driving the success of these projects is their ability to leverage existing blockchain infrastructure. Many of these projects are built on top of existing blockchain networks, such as Ethereum or Binance Smart Chain, which allows them to tap into a vast and growing user base. By building on top of existing infrastructure, these projects are able to focus on their specific use cases rather than reinventing the wheel and creating their own blockchain from scratch.
With a new and exciting outlook into the crypto space, here are projects to pay close attention to:
Projects to consider as investment plans
1. Lyra crypto protocol
Currently, the investment thesis primarily focuses on protocols that aim to address convexity by creating a CEX-like experience for trading options. For example, Lyra is a decentralized options exchange on Optimistic Ethereum that provides traders with access to crypto markets with low transaction fees and subsecond transaction speeds.
With its decentralized options protocol, Lyra intends to be among the first to compete with centralized exchanges. To accomplish this, they have added competitive features to their chain to become the go-to destination for actively trading options. Lyra’s features include the ability to buy and sell calls and put instantly, accurate pricing comparable to other exchanges, consistent liquidity, and risk mitigation for limited partners.
Lyra Protocol is a worthy and enjoyable endeavor. It has the potential to offer users valuable benefits. Therefore, you can experiment with both short- and long-term investments. However, before investing, it is essential for users to develop a proper exit strategy. Additionally, it is essential to consult your financial advisor before making any investment plans.
2. GammaSwap Protocol
GammaSwap is a decentralized exchange platform allowing users to trade cryptocurrency volatility using perpetual derivatives. In addition, GammaSwap permits users to purchase long straddles and payoff functions similar to those of call and put options.
The GammaSwap protocol is a protocol for going long gamma through constant function market makers (CFMMs) like Uniswap, Sushiswap, Balancer, etc. Without volatility sellers, the GammaSwap protocol would not be able to function. This refers to liquidity suppliers for CFMMs.
3. Smile
Smile Coin is a Web3 Project and decentralized application (dApp) that aims to power the gaming industry with the first-ever DeFi gaming portfolio and single global currency on Algorand. SMILE will provide a suite of DeFi products and tools to power the future of gaming in Algorand after receiving a grant from the Algorand Foundation.
Smile Coin enables gaming companies to transact without cumbersome payment processing, providing users with tools to maximize their profits. The design of Smile Coin offers distinct advantages over legacy networks, such as performance transparency, a decentralized network, financing options, and more. SMILE uses Algorand’s Layer-1 protocol to provide a streamlined payment infrastructure, blockchain gaming experiences, and the world’s first transaction ledger decentralized application.
4. Panoptic
Panoptic is an Ethereum-based perpetual, oracle-free, instant-settlement options trading protocol. Panoptic enables permissionless option trading on top of any asset pool in the Uniswap v3 ecosystem and aims to create a trustless, permissionless, and composable options product, i.e., to do for decentralized options markets what x*y=k automated market maker protocols did for spot trading.
Panoptic was founded in July 2022 by Kristensen, a former head of research at Advanced Blockchain AG, and Guillaume Lambert, a professor of applied physics at Cornell University. The duo hopes to revolutionize decentralized crypto options trading in the same way that Uniswap has revolutionized decentralized crypto spot trading.
5. Premia V3
Welcome to Premia v3, a comprehensive, user-friendly, and modular DeFi scaling solution created by DEX! Say hello to permissionless pool creation, concentrated liquidity, an orderbook, and margin: Uniswap v3 and Deribit’s lovechild.
Users can choose to buy or sell calls and puts with a European-style strike price, expiration date, and contract size. They will then receive multiple price quotes from liquidity pools, strategy vaults, and the RFQ network within the orderbook.
In addition, users will be able to place limit orders to purchase or sell options at a specific price. Limit orders are routed through the RFQ network, so users must sign a message rather than a transaction in order to accept orders.
6. Valorem Protocol
The Valorem Options protocol is intended to provide greater flexibility than existing options protocols by eliminating price oracles, reliance on existing DeFi primitives, and assumptions about premium value.
Valorem Options are physically settled, leveraging an innovative fair settlement algorithm. The protocol can interact directly with any pair of non-rebasing, non-fee-on-transfer ERC-20 tokens to enable the permissionless and non-custodial transfer and settlement of long and short put and call option positions.
7. Aori Protocol
Aori is the first decentralized, fully collateralized, and member-owned options protocol. Aori intends to develop an institutional and individual digital asset options trading platform based on the principles of trustless transparency, mitigated counterparty risk, best pricing, and member ownership.
The current state of cryptocurrency options trading is lacking in transparency, security, and capital efficiency. Traders are restricted to trading options through centralized exchanges/OTC Brokers, which entails counterparty risk.
Aori eliminates counterparty settlement risk completely while maintaining capital efficiency, thereby resolving the primary issue with crypto derivatives markets. This is accomplished by requiring full collateralization of all options issued through Aori, with the maximum loss or gain of the option, and by having separate Aori margin pools managed by a dedicated pool manager known as a “Aori Prime.”
8. Centrifuge protocol
Centrifuge is among the top protocols that have captured the investment eye of crypto elites. Centrifuge is a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol that aims to make credit more accessible to small businesses while providing a stable return to investors by integrating pooled liquidity into the world of conventional finance.
Tinlake, the decentralized application (dApp) associated with Centrifuge, is a marketplace for tokenized real-world assets. By minting Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that represent verifiable real-world assets, businesses can collect assets to use as collateral for their loans and quickly gain access to more liquid funds from individual investors.
In exchange, investors can use conventional business lending techniques to earn a more predictable return on their investments and reduce their exposure to the volatile crypto markets.
Also, focus on the following:
This year will be tough due to sticky inflation and the ongoing big drop in US stocks. Due to these effects, crypto investors will get low prices for crypto coins and projects at some point. Focus on projects such as Blur. The NFT marketplace has crushed OpenSea due to its superior UX/UI.
Focus on protocols that support interoperability, such as LayerZero, Stargate, Synapse, Celer, and Quant. Hopefully, other better ZK investment opportunities like Scroll and Aztec will grace the market with profits.
Bottom line
While past performance does not guarantee future results, there are several reasons why crypto projects will do well in 2023 despite market downturns. First, technological advancements in the blockchain space are making these projects and protocols more efficient and user-friendly. This is likely to drive further adoption and use cases for cryptocurrencies, which may, in turn, contribute to their long-term success.
